One of the Bush administration consistencies carried over by the Obama administration is there are always (or almost always) "30 militants killed" in whatever action is taking place in Iraq or Afghanistan. This has been a staple of the war "reporting" since Rumsfeld dictated that the wars would be censored, including hiding those killed from the public. At least Obama has loosened the fact that we have our brave young men and women being killed in these unending wars by allowing some remains returns to be shown.
The American public is being well shielded from the major action that is taking place in Afghanistan to a large degree (any possible reason the timing is during the Vancouver Olympics?). There is some reporting, but nothing when compared to other wars and conflicts; the Viet Nam Conflict comes to my mind.
Now that Pakistan has been brought on board by the change of administrations leading with the Obama administration doing more than yacking away with false bravado and torturing people. The leadership of Pakistan is now actually taking on the militants lodging within its borders using American equipment. The U. S. is supplying much in the way of arms to Pakistan; this is nothing new as we have been supporting India and Pakistan for decades.
"30 militants killed in Pak . . ." Hindustan Times Feb. 20, 2010. It looks like the U. S. has supplied Pakistan with the "30 killed" meme.
Why 30?
An excellent diary in Daily KOS by MightMole provides us with a good answer and the reason it is continued in use by the Obama administration. Basically it is a number that, through polling, is one Americans can tolerate for killing in foreign wars. It is a large enough cover to supply a justification for killing civilians, maybe a lot of civilians, just to kill on militant fighter, or Taliban fighter, or even one Al-Quaeda fighter. And if the extended family of a town is wiped out, saying it was only 30 people does not sound as bad as 30 women, babies and children.
Since it works for us it can work for others too. But, it is also a concern because the reporters are no longer reporting. Sure it is nice to hide facts from your enemies, however, if they are there they know the truth. That means one thing only, our government is continuing to hide this war from us, U.S. citizens, so we continue on our merry way and do not become concerned.
We should be demanding more accurate information from the Obama administration. We should also be demanding more from Congress when we are paying the cost of Iraq and Afghanistan with the greatest recession since the Great Depression. With the continued hiding of what is going on in Afghanistan the Obama administration is continuing a bad Bush and Rumsfeld tradition.